Oil spill shows need for alternative energy development

EPA/TANNEN MAURYClean up crews use artificial straw to soak up and remove oil from the BP oil spill in marsh grass off the coast of Louisiana.

Time to increase research

After reading “BP steps up response with undersea sensors,” I noticed an adjoining article about the oil pipeline spill of 21,000 gallons in Utah (“Oil pipeline spill stopped short of Great Salt Lake,” June 14).

It must be obvious that now is the time for this country to invest in other forms of clean energy, so that these spills do not continue to destroy our precious ecology and devastate the economy of large sections of the United States. Experts believe we could move away from our reliance on oil in less than 20 years, but we must begin the process. The next disaster is just a matter of time.Dena Lowenbach, South Orange

Employment opportunities
Rahm Emanuel once advised the president to never let a crisis go to waste. The president has obviously not heeded him concerning the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This crisis can be used to resolve one of the most important issue facing the nation.
Like his illustrious Democratic predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Obama is presented with a golden opportunity to expand government by creating his own version of the Works Progress Administration. From all reports, containing the spill will take a lot of effort, and this country is now in the enviable position of having a tremendous unemployed labor force that it can throw at the task. The 2010 census jobs have been credited with lowering unemployment for the month of May. It isn’t hard to imagine that a crisis on the scale of this spill could lower unemployment for the rest of the year, and all on the payroll of BP.

No one actually has to take a job cleaning up the oil. And after the jobs go unfilled for a short but reasonable amount of time, we can import laborers, either illegally or through H1-B visas, to do the jobs Americans can’t or won’t do.Ronald Weinger, Berkeley Heights

Cherish the planet
BP needs to take care of this disastrous oil spill quickly. We are slowly but surely killing the habitat. We are destroying nature that God has blessed us with. What kind of environment are we leaving our children and their children? Our planet is a gift from God. We should cherish it and take care of it. Nancy Thelot, East Orange

Stuck on red
Regarding the June 14 Star-Ledger article on the five-minute traffic signals in Passaic County, you are cordially invited to experience the million-dollar improvements made to the Clark traffic circle off Parkway exit 135. The four new stop lights, spaced about 75 feet apart, that work against each other are sure to entertain.

If you use exit 135 to change direction on the Parkway, be sure to pack a lunch.Dan Blazovic, Clark

Pistol-packing patriot
In her June 14 article “Top court takes aim at gun debate,” is Kristin Goss serious when she says “gun control advocates … haven’t pushed hand gun bans for 30 years”? She has no idea and is not up on the topic. New Jersey just rammed through a one-gun-a-month law, which is useless in stopping crime and only affects legitimate gun owners.

We have a cultural identity. We are freedom-loving Americans who live and die by the Constitution and who value the ideals of our forefathers. I am a pistol-packing patriot, and as long as I am, you have the right to disagree with me. A wise old man once said, “I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.” John Behre, Manchester

Didn’t tell whole story
In Marcus Winters’ June 13 column “Vouchers work in Fla., and they’ll work here,” one can see he likes to pick and choose his facts. First, he cites Florida’s student performance on the NAEP as “near the top in the nation.” Only in grade 4 reading did they come close to — but fall below — New Jersey’s score. On the grade 8 math, they were far below New Jersey and below the national average. How is that “near the top?” New Jersey, Massachusetts and a handful of other states are actually at or near the top on every NAEP test.

Second, Winters likes to quote the research of David Figlio, but only some of his results. Figlio did identify “slight gains for public schools in areas where vouchers were offered.” But Winters forgets to mention that Figlio found in a separate study that in Florida, voucher students performed the same or worse than voucher-eligible students who remained in public schools.

What is our goal, an educated citizenry or ensuring the decline of our schools to Florida’s levels?

In the future, Winters should present all the facts, not just the ones that relate to his point of view. But then, he is an economist, not an educator.Daniel Mahony, Clinton

Making connections
Monday’s front-page article reported the following quote from an e-mail sent by Gov. Chris Christie’s office to a local official: “This (town hall meeting) is about taxes, not education” (“Officials inviting pro-Christie audiences,” June 14). The statement is a perfect example of Christie’s shortsightedness, his inability — real or feigned — to put two and two together. Any discussion about property taxes must also be about education. They are intertwined.

Everything is connected. Just like the increasing wealth of the wealthy is connected to the increasing poverty of the poor. Since Christie can’t or won’t recognize these connections, I hope voters will take every opportunity to elect a government that does. Donald McBain, Toms River

Bear hunt is necessary
Animal rights defenders who oppose the necessary bear hunt claim all we have to do is get lockable trash cans to stop attracting bears.

Bears are opportunistic feeders, and if they can’t get into a trash can, they will follow their noses to your kitchen window thinking, “This thin screen is much easier to push open.” I am sure these people will change their opinion when they find a 300-pound bear in their kitchen.

The only way nature manages animal population is through a prey-predator relationship. All the science proves a hunt is necessary. Would these activists cry more over a bear being eaten by a family, or a family being eaten by a bear? These people seem to value the life of an animal more than the life of a human being. Charles Breitweiser, Old Bridge

Teacher pay increases
How generous of teachers to “accept” raises averaging 3.35 percent for the coming year instead of a previous 4.35 percent (“Average raises for teachers at 3.35 percent,” June 10). What the numbers show is the hypocrisy that teachers proclaim all they do is “for the children.”

Assuming we taxpayers — many of whom have received no raise, taken pay cuts or are unemployed — are willing to pay a cost-of-living increase to teachers, but why the extra money? If what the teachers do is “for the children,” what about applying the difference between inflation and the 3.35 percent to school programs instead of salary increases? Norman R. Dotti, Kinnelon